Once the boat docked at the port Shou, Kazumi and Sequilia hopped out of the small ship. Shou rested his arms behinds his head, "Alright! Kenion, the city of Warriors! Let's go find us another party member!"

Sequilia arched her eyebrows, "Huh? I thought you said you needed a Mage on your team."

Shou nods, "Yeah. Why do you ask?

The small white haired girl slammed her palm into her face, "Then why didn't we go to the city of Mages instead?"

Shou stared blankly at Sequilia for a while. In all honesty it just never occurred to him. But admitting that to Sequilia would be the last thing he ever did. But he couldn't come up with a good excuse either so he opted for silence.

Unfortunately for Shou, Sequilia took his silence as confirmation that her assumptions were right. She nodded her head assuredly, "Idiot."

"Hey! I'm not an idiot!" Shou protested violently stomping his feet around.

Kazumi sighed, "Shou, stop acting like a little kid. You're embarrassing us."

Shou groaned "It's not my fault Sequilia is so exhausting."

"Oh yeah and your Mr. Breezy." Kazumi rolled her eyes.

Shou smiled at the Cleric, "Thanks Kazumi."

Sequilia chuckled putting her hand to her lips, "Still not catching on on the whole sarcasm thing, huh Shou?"

Before Shou could respond with another tantrum a warm hand grazed across his shoulder, "Yo, Shou!"

Shou turned around to see a spiky green haired teen decked out in brown armor behind him. The blue haired warrior peered his eyes at him, "Um who are you?"

The purple haired stranger grinned, "I'm Len, remember?"

"Len," Shou said the name in attempt to remember the face he associated it with. Eventually the face and name both returned to him, "Oh Len! Right, I remember you! You were the dude with the hair!"

Kazumi and Sequilia sighed, "Idiot."

Len nodded, "Yep that's me. So some pretty crazy stuff going on huh?"

"He actually went along with it..." The two girls said in amazement.

"Yeah you can say that again," Shou said.

Len rubbed his chin in thought, "First the game master says locking us in here is intentional. Then he says it's an accident."

Shou nodded, "Yeah. I don't understand it much either. But I wanna focus on getting out of here. I don't care about solving any mysteries."

"Well, I'm sure it shouldn't be a problem for you, Gaming Lord!" Len shouted hooking his arm around Shou's shoulder.

"Len, keep your voice down," Shou said in a whispered panic.

Len blinked, "Why? You don't want people knowing your the Gaming Lord?"

Shou shook his head frantically, "No!"

"How come?"

Shou sighed, "I just don't okay."

"So you're the Gaming Lord, huh?" A green haired Warrior walked up to Shou. "How about a duel, Mr. Popular?"

Shou grinned, "You bet! I'm always ready for a duel!"

Sequilia slammed her palm into her face, "What happened to not wanting people to know you're the Gaming Lord."

Shou rubbed his neck and laughed, "I uh...forgot."

Kazumi pulled Shou back by his arm, "Are you seriously going to fight this guy? Won't one of you die?"

"Relax, Kazumi. I won't kill him. We all have ten lives remember?

"I'm not worried about him. I'm worried about you."

Shou gave Kazumi a confident smile, "Well then I guess I just won't let him win."

"So, you call yourself Jiran now, huh?" The green haired warrior said looking at Shou's username

"Yep." Shou looked up at his opponent's name, "And you're Blazer?"

Blazer nodded before the countdown reached zero and the word DUEL appeared in front of him and Shou.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Shou rushed forward for Blazer. He swung his sword down at his shoulder. Blazer quickly sidestepped to the right thrusting his sword forward at Shou slightly decreasing his health.

Shou’s HP: 45/50

Shou slashed his blade down at Blazer's shoulder. The green haired boy winched as some blood spurted out from the wound.

Blazer’s HP: 45/60

 "Blue Flash!" Shou activated his skill. A blue wave of energy to emitted from his sword.

The attack pushed Blazer back a couple of feet and significantly decreased health.

Blazer’s HP: 25/60

Blazer now up against the tree panicked when Shou appeared in front of him in mid-air. The boy's hands stretched out behind his shoulders preparing for a powerful attack.

Shou swung his blade down as his arms straightened out, Blazer rolled out of the way just in the nick of time and stabbed his sword at Shou's back, fairly decreasing his HP.

Shou’s HP: 30/50

Shou quickly turned around and was met with a piercing blow to his stomach. Coppery tasting blood erupted from his mouth as his health dropped significantly.

Shou’s HP: 10/50

Shou tried to make a counterattack but Blazer continued slashing at the black-haired Warrior.

Blazer swung his sword at Shou again. Shou slammed his blade against Blazer's. Blazer grunted before bringing his sword back and striking again. Shou deflected Blazer's strike with his weapon before attempting to make an attack of his own. The metal continued clanging against each other increasing their volume with every blow. Radiant sparks flew off the warring blades. Both sides were determined for victory.

Blazer started loosing his grounding as Shou began pushing him back. The green haired Warrior's feet slid back on the dirt. A billow of dust rose up in the air. Shou gained the upper hand and pushed Blazer away from him. He charged at his opponent again activating another skill.

"Sudden Comeback!" Shou's sword glowed with a bright white light as he brought it behind his shoulder. The blade came crashing down on Blazer. A mass of red liquid dripped down from both his shoulders. The words Critical Hit appeared above his head and his HP decreased until there was only a sliver of health remaining.

Blazer’s HP: 1/60

"Damn. This hurts like hell," Blazer said in monotone. "Bastard."

Shou blinked, "What?" Bastard. Why would he call him that? He thought they were just having a fun battle.

Shou swung his blade at Blazer again but he quickly swayed to the left avoiding the blow. "Sudden Comeback!" Blazer shouted as his sword glowed with the same bright white light Shou's did.

Shou dodged a second too late and was struck in the back by Blazer's sword. The black-haired Warrior's heath fell dramatically.

Shou’s HP 3/50

Kazumi clasped her hands against her mouth, "Shou."

Shou turned around and was greeted by Blazer's blade once more He quickly threw his sword against Blazer's just barely managing to knock it off course.

Once again the two blades assaulted each other, even more desperate for victory than the last time. As the brawl continued each side consistently increased their speed hoping to gain the advantage. Neither side was letting up. The metal weapons continued to slam against each other one after the other as if they were a single pendulum. The metal clang echoed throughout the area. Signaling it's owners hopes for the battle.

Shou pressed his blade against Blazer's as Blazer struggled to knock Shou back. Shou smirked, "Blue Flash!" A roaring blue wave of energy emitted from Shou's sword and knocked Blazer to the floor covered in blood. His health fell to zero and he dissolved into thin air.

Winner: Jiran

Kazumi eyes scanned the area frantically, "Hey, where'd he go?! I thought everyone had ten lives in this game?!"

Shou walked over to Kazumi and rested his arm on her shoulder, "Don't worry, Kazumi. He just respawned somewhere else."

Kazumi blinked, “Respawned?”

Shou nodded, "Yeah. Every game like this has a place where you're revived at. Although I'm not sure what it's called in this game."

Sequilia sighed, "It's called the Sparkling Sapphire. Honestly did you even bother to read the manual."

Shou stared at Sequilia, "There was a manual?"

Len laughed, "Eh, it wasn't really worth the effort anyway. I only got through the first half of page one."

"Some real effort you put in there." Kazumi scoffed.

"Alright" Shou pulled up the map in front of him. "Let's see, the city of Mages is called Senaria."

"So is that where we're going next?" Len asked stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I don't remember anyone ever saying you could join our party." Sequilia folded her arms.

"Yeah, you're one to talk." Shou scoffed at the white haired Archer. "Len can come. It'll help make being in a party with you more bearable." And with that, Shou pulled up the menu and sent Len an invite.

Groove Miester has joined your party!

"Yahoo!" Len yelled with excitement slinging his arm around Shou's shoulder. "We're gonna have some epic guy time bro! We can even get some sexy girlfriends while we're at it!" Len leaned in closer to Shou and whispered into his ear, "But I call the orange haired one, okay?"

Shou scowled at Len, "The orange haired one is my girlfriend."

Len let off of Shou's shoulder in a panic and looked over at Kazumi and then back at Shou. "How did you get a girlfriend?"

"Because-"

"By a miracle." Sequilia interrupted Shou.

"No! Shut the hell up Sequilia!" Shou shouted extending his finger at the girl. "Anyway while we're still in this city, I think Len and I should go get some armor."

"Do you have enough gold for that?" Len asked.

"Hold on, let me check." Shou pulled up his bag and studies his amount of coin. "Damn it!" The blue haired boy cursed as he closed his bag menu down.

Len chuckled, "You don't have enough, huh?"

Shou sighed, "It's not funny, Len. It's dangerous to stay in these starting clothes for too long."

"Chill, I know. That's why I'm going to share my gold with you."

Shou bolted up from the ground, "Really?"

Len nodded, "Yeah, of course." Len dropped the coins into Shou's hand.

Shou closed his hand securing the coins, "Thanks Len."

Len smirked, "Oh don't thank me. You're gonna have to pay me back, buddy."